Use of clinical simulation in the design and evaluation of eHealth systems and applications has increased
during the last decade. This paper describes a methodological approach for using clinical simulations in
the design and evaluation of clinical information systems. The method is based on experiences from more
than 20 clinical simulation studies conducted at the ITX-lab in the Capital Region of Denmark during the
last 5 years. A ten-step approach to conducting simulations is presented in this paper. To illustrate the
approach, a clinical simulation study concerning implementation of Digital Clinical Practice Guidelines
in a prototype planning and coordination module is presented. In the case study potential benefits were
assessed in a full-scale simulation test including 18 health care professionals. The results showed that
health care professionals can benefit from such a module. Unintended consequences concerning
terminology and changes in the division of responsibility amongst healthcare professionals were also
identified, and questions were raised concerning future workflow across sector borders. Furthermore
unexpected new possible benefits concerning improved communication, content of information in
discharge letters and quality management emerged during the testing. In addition new potential groups
of users were identified. The case study is used to demonstrate the potential of using the clinical simulation
approach described in the paper.